Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 17 | Page 34

FEATURE : SD-WAN

And yet , with all the changes to applications themselves , the typical WAN architecture has seen limited improvements . It ’ s an architecture that was optimised for a simpler time , when apps and traffic were delivered out of centralised corporate data centers and over privately managed WANs . This mismatch between apps and networks is causing several undesirable outcomes , including suboptimal application performance , high network costs , difficulty managing or scaling the network , and increased risk in deploying new applications and services .

In short , traditional WAN architectures are facing increasing limitations .
Rise of the hybrid enterprise After years of dipping their toes into the cloud computing waters , 2017 looks to be the year we see enterprises fully embrace the cloud . Eighty-four percent of businesses report their use of the cloud has increased in 2015 , and they expect that trend will continue . Half say they will use cloud for at least 75 % of their workloads by 2018 .
Yet , they ’ re not planning to move all apps to the cloud . Some will continue to live on-premises , particularly those that enable access to sensitive or confidential information , or those that need to run locally at remote locations to support the needs of their business . Companies therefore find themselves with one foot on-premises and one in the cloud . This combination of private and public assets delivering essential business services is known as the “ hybrid enterprise ,” and it is the new normal .
IT teams cannot simply provision cloud apps and move on . They need to establish visibility , optimization and control across hybrid clouds and networks to ensure that all onpremises , cloud , and SaaS applications
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